As Associate Dean for Administration and CFO for the College of Engineering, McPherson oversees the College's financial, accounting, human resources, and payroll functions. McPherson directly supervises a staff of ten professionals and interfaces closely with more than thirty other finance and administrative staff located within the College. She is the College's primary liaison with UW-Madison campus on financial and administrative issues.

McPherson joined the College of Engineering as Associate Dean in 2009. Prior to 2009, McPherson was CFO for venture capital backed technology companies over a twenty year period in Madison, Wisconsin, Chicago, Illinois and Silicon Valley. McPherson holds a B.S. in Accountancy from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and is a Certified Public Accountant.